Vial Handling Automation for NSW Health Pathology

NSW Health Pathology required an automated solution for the preparation, analysis, and secure archiving of high-volume clinical samples. AUTONOMA delivered a Vial Handling Module that fully automates the decapping, transferring, and recapping of vials, test tubes, and flasks containing blood, urine, nasal swabs, oral fluid, and other sample types.

The system removes repetitive manual handling from the laboratory workflow, reducing the risk of repetitive strain injuries, minimising technician exposure to biohazardous materials, and improving throughput and consistency across the pathology process.

The Challenge

NSW Health Pathology needed to address the volume and risk associated with manual sample handling. Key requirements included automating repetitive decapping and recapping tasks, reducing the potential for human error and cross-contamination, protecting technicians from unnecessary exposure to hazardous samples, maintaining full traceability through LIMS integration, and building on a modular architecture that could scale with future needs.

The Solution

Trays of capped samples are loaded into the system by a technician. Each vial is robotically picked and its barcode scanned against the LIMS worklist. Vials with non-matching IDs are returned and flagged for manual intervention. Valid vials are security tape-cut, uncapped, and transferred into Tecan racks for analysis. Used caps are safely disposed of throughout the process.

Following analysis, Tecan racks are reloaded into the system. Each vial is recapped with a fresh lid via an integrated cap feeder and sorter, then placed into a numbered archive rack. AVANTICA software records the sample ID and exact storage position, creating a fully searchable digital chain of custody through LIMS.

Outcomes

The system eliminated manual, strain-inducing tasks from the pathology workflow and reduced technician exposure to biohazardous materials. Sample preparation and archiving became faster and more consistent. Automated barcode validation removed the risk of sample mismatches. And the modular architecture provides a foundation for expanding laboratory automation as requirements grow.

Get in Touch

Contact AUTONOMA to discuss automation solutions for your laboratory operation.

Call: +61 8 6149 9801 or use our online enquiry form.